Ecommerce Evolved Read online

  Ecommerce

  Evolved

  By Tanner Larsson

  Copyright © 2016 by Tanner Larsson. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing 2016

  ISBN-13: 978-1534619340 ISBN-10: 1534619348

  Cover Design by: Iftikhar Ahmed Butt

  Interior Design by:: BookClaw.com Illustrations by:

  Carla Giampapa

  Bloomicon/Shutterstock.com

  10580 N. McCarran Blvd, #115-329 Reno, NV 89503-2059

  www.BuildGrowScale.com

  ii

  Table of Contents

  DEDICATION ............................................................... xvii INTRODUCTION............................................................. 1 Why I Wrote This Book.......................................................... 4 Why This Book Is Different ................................................... 5 Four Distinctions That Set This Book Apart ....................... 7

  1. The Vital Few ..................................................................... 7

  2. Zero Theory.......................................................................... 7

  3. Evergreen Training ............................................................... 8

  4. Systematic Immersion............................................................ 8

  THE 12 CORE PRINCIPLES OF ECOMMERCE....... 11

  1. Your Business is Not Unique ........................................... 12

  2. Your Business is Marketing .............................................. 14

  3. Brand Centric, Not Product Centric ............................... 15

  4. You Must Control the Order Process ............................. 16

  5. Don’t Compete on Price ................................................... 18

  6. Don’t Be Walmart. Niche Down..................................... 20

  7. No Such Thing as Free Traffic ........................................ 23

  8. Business Costs Money....................................................... 24

  9. If You’re Not Mobile, You’re Out .................................. 25

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  10. The One Who Can Spend the Most to Acquire a Customer Wins ....................................................................... 26 11. Sell in Multiple Channels ................................................ 30

  12. There Are Only Three Ways to Grow a Business ...... 31 Conclusion............................................................................... 33

  PART I:Evolved Strategy .................................................. 35 CHAPTER 1: Funnel-Based Ecommerce ..................... 39 The Two Worlds of Ecommerce ......................................... 40 Why Funnel-Based Ecommerce is So Effective................ 41

  The Proof Is in the Numbers .................................................. 42 The Buyer’s High ................................................................... 43 Pieces of a Sales Funnel ........................................................ 45 Front End .............................................................................. 45 Order Bump ........................................................................... 46 Upsell ..................................................................................... 48 Downsell ................................................................................ 49 Recurring Income Offer (RIC Offer) ........................................ 51 Products.................................................................................. 51

  The Two Types of Ecom Funnels....................................... 53 The Stand-Alone Funnel........................................................ 53 The Upsell Funnel Path ......................................................... 55 Default Upsell Funnel Paths .................................................. 56 Product-Specific Upsell Funnel Paths ...................................... 56 Behavior-Based Upsell Funnel Paths....................................... 57

  Incorporating Sales Funnels into Your Business ............... 58 What About My Store? ......................................................... 59 Conclusion............................................................................... 60 Chapter 1 Summary ............................................................... 61 CHAPTER 2 : Recurring Income Core ......................... 63 The Power of Recurring Income ......................................... 64 Recurring Income as the Focal Point of Your Business .. 65

  Predictable Income................................................................... 67 Compound Growth Effect ....................................................... 69 Types, Styles, and Frequencies of Recurring Income Cores70

  Types of Recurring Income Cores....................................... 70 Consumable Subscriptions....................................................... 71 Subscription Box .................................................................... 71 Digital.................................................................................... 73 Newsletters (Physical or Digital) ............................................. 73 Buyer’s Clubs ......................................................................... 74 Associations ............................................................................ 74 Micro Continuity .................................................................... 75 Choosing RIC Types ............................................................... 77

  Styles of Recurring Income Core......................................... 78 Subscription ............................................................................ 78 Membership ............................................................................ 78 Hybrid ................................................................................... 79

  Frequencies.............................................................................. 80

  Adding a Recurring Income Core to Your Business ........ 80

  Technology .............................................................................. 81

  Selling Your RIC .................................................................... 82

  Upsells ................................................................................... 82

  Trials ..................................................................................... 82

  Multiple Continuity Streams ................................................. 84

  Retention Management ......................................................... 84

  The 10x Rule ........................................................................... 85

  Retention Metrics ................................................................... 86

  1. Churn Rate (CR)............................................................... 86

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  2. Customer Count Retention (CCR)...................................... 87 3. Average Subscription Revenue Per Customer (ASRC)....... 87 Drop-Off Points ..................................................................... 89 Make Canceling Simple, But Not Painless ........................ 92 Conclusion............................................................................... 93 Chapter 2 Summary ............................................................... 94

  CHAPTER 3 : Think Before You Sell ............................ 95 Product Pricing: It’s All About the Margin ........................ 96 The 3X Rule.......................................................................... 100

  What If the Product You Love Doesn’t Meet the 3x Rule? ... 102 Sell Your Own Products ..................
................................... 103 Don’t Sell Sony..................................................................... 103 Product Selection and Manufacturer Selection Criteria .. 105

  Product Selection................................................................... 105 Manufacturer Criteria:.......................................................... 108 Private Label ......................................................................... 109 Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) .................... 111 Is Your Product Viable? ...................................................... 114 Outside the Box.................................................................... 115 Print On Demand ................................................................ 116 Crowdfunding ....................................................................... 117 Crowdsourcing ...................................................................... 117 Don’t Forget About Digital Products .................................... 119 Product Fulfillment .............................................................. 121 Arbitrage.............................................................................. 121 Drop Ship ............................................................................ 123 Third-Party Fulfillment ........................................................ 124 In-House Fulfillment ............................................................ 126 Conclusion............................................................................. 128 Chapter 3 Summary ............................................................. 129 CHAPTER 4: Conversion Tricks, Sales Boosts, and

  Profit Maximizers ......................................................... 131

  Conversion Tricks ................................................................ 132 Retargeting............................................................................. 133

  How to Retarget ................................................................... 134

  Product Reviews................................................................... 135 Landing Pages ....................................................................... 137 Components of a Landing Page......................................... 138 Unique Mobile Checkout .................................................... 141 Sales Boosts ........................................................................... 143 Loss Leaders.......................................................................... 143 Tripwires ................................................................................ 145

  Flash Sales ............................................................................. 145 The Phone Doesn’t Bite...................................................... 146 Profit Maximizers ................................................................. 147 Free Shipping ........................................................................ 148 Shipping and Handling as a Profit Center ........................ 149 Ride-Alongs........................................................................... 150

  Conclusion ............................................................................. 152

  Chapter 4 Summary ............................................................. 153

  PART II:Evolved Intelligence ........................................ 155

  CHAPTER 5: Your Target Market ............................. 159

  Demographics ....................................................................... 161

  Customer Demographics........................................................ 162

  Tools for Finding Audience Data...................................... 164 Facebook Insights ................................................................. 165

  vii Facebook Audience Insights .................................................. 165

  TowerData ........................................................................... 166

  Twitter Analytics.................................................................. 167

  Alexa .................................................................................. 167

  Google Analytics................................................................... 168

  Survey .................................................................................. 168

  Social and Behavior Data .................................................... 168 Social and Behavioral Data .................................................. 169 Tools for Finding Social and Behavioral Data................. 170 Facebook .............................................................................. 171 Niche Magazines.................................................................. 171 Google .................................................................................. 172 SimilarWeb .......................................................................... 172

  Your Customer Avatar ........................................................ 172

  1. Demographics .................................................................. 174

  2. The Seven Emotional Questions ................................... 174

  The Seven Emotional Questions ............................................ 175

  3. The Ten Behavioral Questions .......................................... 175

  4. Create a Background Story ............................................... 177

  Example of a Customer Avatar............................................ 177

  Can You Have More Than One Customer Avatar? ............. 179

  Conclusion............................................................................. 180

  Chapter 5 Summary ............................................................. 181

  CHAPTER 6 : Your Competition................................. 183

  Find Your Biggest Competitors ......................................... 184 How to Find Your Competitors ............................................ 185

  1. Google.............................................................................. 185

  2. SEMrush ........................................................................ 186

  3. Alexa .............................................................................. 187

  The Three Steps to Find Your Competition........................... 188

  viii Document How Each Competitor Operates................... 188

  Competitor Research Checklist .......................................... 190

  Reverse-Engineer Your Competition ................................ 192

  1. SEMrush......................................................................... 193 2. BuzzSumo ....................................................................... 194 3. WhatRunsWhere ............................................................. 194 4. SimilarWeb...................................................................... 195 5. Ghostery........................................................................... 196 Funnel Hack.......................................................................... 197

  How to Execute a Funnel Hack ........................................... 198 Conclusion ............................................................................. 199 Chapter 6 Summary ............................................................. 200

  CHAPTER 7 : Exploit Your Data ................................ 201 Internal Data Patterns and Analysis .................................. 203 Basket Analysis ..................................................................... 203 Sales Forecasting................................................................... 205 Inventory Forecasting .......................................................... 208

  Channel Analysis .................................................................. 210 Device Used for Purchase ...................................................... 212 Customer Analysis................................................................ 212 Repeat Customers, Continuity Buyers, and Whales................ 212 Regional Affinity .................................................................. 213 Demographics .......................................
................................ 214 Payment Preference ................................................................ 214 Shipping Preference ............................................................... 214

  Find Your Low-Hanging Fruit........................................... 215 Profile Your Buyer’s List..................................................... 215 Facebook Audience Insights .................................................. 216 TowerData ........................................................................... 216

  Curated Facebook Audiences............................................. 217 Facebook Custom Audiences................................................. 218 Possible Facebook Custom Audiences.................................... 219 Facebook Lookalike Audiences ............................................ 219 Facebook Pixel..................................................................... 220

  Honeypot Traffic .................................................................. 221 Referral Traffic ..................................................................... 221 Data-Driven Promotions ...................................................... 222

  Conclusion............................................................................. 222 Chapter 7 Summary ............................................................. 223 PART III: Evolved Marketing ........................................ 225 CHAPTER 8: Advertising Channels ........................... 227 Core Ecommerce Marketing Channels............................. 229

  Traffic You Own .................................................................. 230

  Traffic You Own .................................................................. 230 Traffic You Control ............................................................. 231

  Paid Advertisement .............................................................. 231 Affiliates .............................................................................. 232 Paid Traffic Sources .............................................................. 233 Traffic You Don’t Control ................................................. 233

  Marketplaces ........................................................................ 234 Organic or Unpaid Advertisement......................................... 235 Social Media ........................................................................ 236 Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) ................................... 236 Unpaid Traffic Sources ......................................................... 237 Tips for Channel Success .................................................... 238